Blog 6 by African Adventurer

After being welcomed with some reserve by the NGOs co-ordinator (for whom my consultative mission was probably the last thing he needed, having a lot on his plate currently), he eventually warmed to my presence, and facilitated my task with providing the necessary documents to read, organising my trips to the countryside to meet with the local peasant organisations, as well as the final evaluation workshop which rounded off the mission.

In Bogande, the small village where I was based for most of the mission (population approx 9,000 people), I had a very nice little bungalow, furnished with the essentials (including a fridge, for which I was most grateful) and a water filter. It also had running water, electricity (until 1am), and a small gas cooker (bottled gas that is, a 25-litre bottle connected to a two-ring stove, adequate enough to cook the pasta, omelettes, soups, sweet potatoes that I prepared). There was also a cook / housekeeper, Sanfo, who looked after the house too, although in all honesty, I did most of the cooking during my time there.

I found it most therapeutic chopping away at vegetables, or pottering around whilst the macaroni shells gently bubbled away after a hard day's work spent visiting and interviewing the local community organisations in the bush, or the different NGO team members in their office.

Sanfo was a friendly guy, always eager to please and offering to run errands. He was also Muslim, and I remember one morning offering to give him a bowl of fresh fruit before he washed my clothes; he readily accepted the plate of watermelon, banana and mandarin, before knocking at the front door a few minutes later to remind me that he was on karem' (fasting during Ramadan) and could he save it until the evening, after the sun went down. I felt a bit stupid for completely forgetting, but then again he hadn't remembered immediately either, since he had just commenced his fasting the day before.

It was probably not the most diplomatic thing to do, I grant you, but I never made the same mistake again.

The visits to the peasants' organisations were probably the highlight of my trip to Burkina. It's always fascinating, for me at least, to come into contact with different cultures and experience how they live, and I certainly came across a wide range of groups, from local committee members of rural health centres to smallholder farmers.

During the interviews that I conducted with them, I asked about their activities, how they were assisted by the local NGO, what their main difficulties were etc. Some of the time the interviews were conducted in the local language of Gourmantche, for which I had a translator. Burkina, like Togo, is francophone, and although French is the official language, it's surprising how many people do not speak it, especially the women or the older people in the community. For the women, it's simply because they are not given a chance to attend the local primary or secondary schools, preference being given to their male siblings. Illiteracy is a major problem for the rural communities in Burkina, and it was heartening to see the literacy programmes financed by the government and carried out by the NGO partner in local language too!

I was pleased to see priority given to literacy in local language first, before concentrating on the imported' colonial language.

The people were very welcoming too and made major efforts to participate in the interviews, even if it involved walking for up to 20km to meet me!

That was quite a humbling experience; I turned up in the NGO partner's 4x4 vehicle, whilst the locals turned up on foot or by bicycle, if they were lucky to own one. Indeed, the NGO partner had helped the staff of the rural health clinics (nurses and midwives) by providing bicycles to ensure that they could get around and visit their patients. The more fortunate ones had even been provided with mopeds, which they could not otherwise afford.

I was completely overwhelmed visiting the health centres, which typically consisted of the clinic, a pharmacy (stocked with only the most basic of drugs, including anti-malarials and serum drips), the maternity unit, and housing for the medical staff - all clustered together in the middle of some remote area.

The facilities are very, very rustic the most sophisticated item is a gas-powered fridge to store the vaccines for the children (no electricity out here). There are regular vaccination programmes against polio, measles, tetanus and whooping cough, for which the mothers are encouraged to bring their children too.

I remember arriving at a health centre on one of these days, to find a huge group of women with their infants all clustered under a large tree for shade. The air was filled with a huge cacophony of noise, the babble of chattering voices mixed with the crying of children, whilst they waited patiently outside the clinic for their turn to go in, have their baby weighed and then vaccinated.

They are encouraged to come along to the health centres for these regular check-ups, which seem quite successful. The incidence of child mortality has decreased as a result; similarly, the presence of the maternity units has also helped in reducing infant mortality during birth, in the main. However, the chief nurse at the centre in Botou was still worried that the local women preferred to have home births, in their little mud huts far out in the countryside, far removed from any available medical care in the case of complications.

When I inspected the maternity unit at the centre though, with the dark, grimy rooms, the old and peeling mattresses on the rusting metal bedframes, and the large, primitive metal contraption designed to rest their legs in during birth, it was easy to see why a local woman would prefer to give birth at home, as her mother and her grandmother had done before her.

Neonatal mortality is undoubtedly a major problem here, and severe complications often result in the death of the mother too.

On a national level, Burkina has an infant mortality rate of 109 per 1,000 births, compared to the UK's national average of six per 1,000 births, and a ratio of 33,300 people per doctor.

At this stage of development, it's clear that Burkina, considered one of the poorest countries in the region, has a long way to go.

I left Burkina for Togo before the national elections held last Sunday it's always a good idea to leave before these kinds of events, as one never knows what may happen in their aftermath. For example, after Togo's elections in April this year, there was widespread rioting in the capital Lome and to a lesser extent - in a few of the regional capitals.

Burkina though appears to have little to worry about in this sense, as many consider the re-election of the current presidential candidate, M Blaise Compaore, a foregone conclusion.

Despite the fact that there are 11 other opposition candidates (which the president can always count on to split the opposition vote), and that space is given to these candidates to present their manifestos in the official press, President Compaore has spent considerably more on publicity during his campaign, on the TV and posters appearing everywhere, and looks likely to get re-elected again without any problem. This is currently his second term, and according to the national constitution, presidents can only serve a maximum of two terms. However, he's not likely to let a small technicality like that stop him running for office, despite the muted, half-protests from some of the opposition.

I will say this for the country it is relatively safe and untroubled from civil war, unlike its neighbours Ivory Coast or Togo who have suffered in recent years, and perhaps that is, finally, the most important criterion to consider social stability.

Without this, there can be no development in the country, and the population is aware of this.

Voting in an unknown candidate could result in potential civil unrest, and, as Burkinans are aware from the terrible experiences of their neighbours, this is definitely something to be avoided at all costs.

I return to Togo for my next and final mission there, via the overland bus. I'll keep you posted on that in the near future. A tres bientot.